Olentangy Local school board unanimously hires new superintendent
The Olentangy Local School District Board of Education has officially hired the next leader of Ohio’s largest suburban school district.
Todd Meyer, 55, was officially approved as the district’s new superintendent by a unanimous vote of the school board at a special public meeting Monday night.
Meyer was awarded a 38-month contract that will pay him a base salary of $215,000 annually beginning June 1 and ending on July 31 of 2026.
Board members were still reviewing other details of Meyer’s full contract on Monday night, a district official said, and it was expected to be made public on Tuesday.
Meyer had been the district’s chief operations officer, overseeing the human resources and transportation departments and the business and facilities group that includes custodial, maintenance, food service and building management.
“I recognized Olentangy was a special place early on and this was my dream job after arriving here 16 years ago,” Meyer told The Dispatch. “I’m extremely excited to lead the district, which has excellent students and staff. My first priority is to build on the relationships I already have and further establish trust. And trust is built by working together day by day.”
Meyer was joined at the meeting by his wife Gina, and their daughters Alexia, 25, and Isabela, 18. Their children, including son Gabe, 23, attended Olentangy Liberty High School.
A 32-year veteran of education, Meyer came to Olentangy in 2007 from Westerville City Schools to serve as principal of the new Olentangy Orange High School.
“It was crystal clear Mr. Meyer cares about every kid in this school distrtict and it wasn’t a hard choice,” said board member Kevin Daberkow.
Meyer will succeed Mark Raiff, who announced in January he would retire at the end of the 2022-23 school year.
Raiff served in the superintendent role for eight years. He first came to the district in 2003 as an assistant principal at Olentangy High School and also has been the principal at Liberty High School and chief academics officer for the district.
The other finalist to replace Raiff was Joseph Clark, superintendent of Nordonia Hills City Schools in Macedonia, in Summit County, and a professor at the American College of Education.
The Olentangy district has more than 3,000 staff members and serves more than 23,000 students, putting it behind only the urban public school districts in Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland among the state's largest school districts.
@MikeWagner48
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Olentangy Local School District hires Todd Meyer as new leader
